What the public thinks of Franklin Boulevard today

I have always felt that Franklin needs to be updated and improved. The signage is confusing, the speed of traffic dangerous and the walking ability questionable.

Lowering the speed limit will only make matters worse. We will cause a lot of traffic congestion, increasing the chance of collisions. A good way to help pedestrian safety would be a bridge walkway over the street. Also, it would be nice to enforce traffic rules on bicycles. Too many bikes ignore stop signs and red lights, and many weave into traffic lanes with zero regard to cars.

Roundabouts won’t make it any safer!! People will still drive unsafely & speed.

Folks living in the street near Hirons Market of Choice made walking or biking in that area very dangerous plus lots of garbage. Cars drive very fast

It’s a main thoroughfare so it’s going to be busy. Enforcing a speed limit would be great. Roundabouts – don’t do it. Look at European ideas on how to satisfy car, bus, pedestrian needs.

With more students living north of Franklin today than there was 20 years ago, and with the Matthew Knight Arena drawing more visitors, I feel like a footbridge over Franklin Blvd would come in handy. When I walk on the sidewalk in front of Market of Choice the speeding cars are just inches away. One distracted driver hopping the curb there could be fatal to walkers. We do need a safer pedestrian corridor on Franklin. Also needed is a safer way to gain access to the river bike trail that leads to the Knickerbocker Bridge. Crossing with a bike at Villard or Orchard St is unnerving, especially with smaller kids who also like to bike. Cars start speeding up to highway speeds at about Franklin and Orchard.

Franklin Boulevard is acceptable if one is traveling via EMX and just okay by car, but is a nightmare for any other means. Traffic speeds are not enforced and it is not uncommon that I am passed by cars going 45-50 in the posted 35mph zones. The sidewalks are far too close to the streets with no buffer, forcing bicycles to ride on the sidewalk with pedestrians. In addition, there are apparently no regulations governing the “ride share” scooters that can currently be found dumped all over town; even though they have the potential to go much faster than a bicycle, the undergrads who use them frequently ride on sidewalks as well, adding to the congestion. Franklin could use a reduction in the number of car lanes; a dedicated two-way bike/scooter lane, better sidewalks, roundabouts to mitigate the flow of traffic, and pedestrian overpasses so that crossing the boulevard doesn’t feel like one is taking their life into their own hands. Events at the Matthew Knight Arena are an additional nightmare, thanks to the UO’s getting by without having to provide parking for events and offloading the burden of parking and traffic management to the surrounding neighborhoods (where I lived until May of this year). The Franklin/Villard intersection is a nightmare on event days, between the traffic and tour buses/touring semi trucks/etc. impeding traffic; I have many times been stuck behind a row of Uber/Lyft vehicles that have decided to simply pull over in the right turn lane on Franklin (approaching Villard from the west) to drop off passengers for especially large events.

Traffic, speed, lack of crosswalks, disregard for pedestrian bike safety, difficulty in crossing traffic/turning when driving

work on Franklin Blvd. I have seen vehicles doing 70 – 80mph down it but in my 9 months of working, not once have I seen any police pulling folks over. I have seen folks on e-scooters on Franklin Blvd. I have seen folks on e-scooters and e-bikes on the sidewalks at speeds that endanger pedestrians and no police. Eugene needs to get some dedicated traffic police who just write tickets. Now about the roundabout’s idea, I am not for them. With all the daily commuter traffic, there is a lot of semi trucks and heavy trucks along with all the construction work going on there are those trucks too. Some semi trucks struggle to get around a roundabout. A logging truck flipped over In Glenwood because of trying to navigate the roundabout there. If a semi flipped on Franklin it would create a Huge traffic mess. My suggestion … Get some police out there and if they need a good suggestion for a speed tap location I have one. Thank you Be safe Chris

People, especially college kids, need to slow down.

I think that roundabouts in high traffic areas that include buses, pedestrians, bike riders, scooters, skateboards, etc. would be incredibly hazardous. I like the idea of slower speeds for autos is a great idea.

Franklin Blvd is a major travel corridor for Matt Knight, UO Campus, from I-5 etc. The current set up handles heavy traffic well and provides wide sidewalks for pedestrians/cyclists. Reducing traffic flow and overall speed to mainly favor pedestrians would be a major issue for this community. Eugene has a vision zero plan but there are other ways to achieve this like making a bike/pedestrian corridor a 1-2 blocks in from Franklin on 15th Ave for example and linking the bike/peds to existing bike paths through campus and like Alder etc. Your vision of everyone walking or riding is not compatible with Eugene weather or the demographics of an aging population with health issues that preclude them from walking or cycling. Idling cars, lost time and loss of use of high traffic corridors in favor of cutting through to quiet neighborhood side street sthat are less hassle fro drivers ie WAZE and other work arounds when traffic is made unbearable buy poor city planning. A dream is only as good as it’s dreamer. I would hope the BEST would be smart and not saddle Eugene with one more difficult and sometimes impassable corridor like Willamette near 29th or on Roosevelt on 24th Ave between Hilyard and Amazon Pkwy.

I do anything to avoid this roadway, but I live in Fairmount so I have to interact with it. It’s not well planned – just cobbled together with lots of lane changes required for drivers, dysfunctional intersections, too many lanes of traffic, traffic is too fast. I like to walk or bike from Fairmount neighborhood to the river and just despise the Franklin crossings as a pedestrian or biker. Even with the stop lights, I’m very wary because there are generally over six lanes of traffic traveling very fast and you only need one of those lanes to have an inattentive driver. There are a couple places closer to town with two roads coming together in a Y shape that are obvious retrofits and dangerous. It’s also ugly and uninviting. No wonder so many restaurants on Franklin fail. It’s just the worst road in Eugene and realistically needs a complete overhaul.

Cars often speed or do not wait for pedestrians to cross villard. Often times cars speed way too close to sidewalks and do not respect busses or people walking.

This is an arterial street for traffic in Eugene. It’s should be made more accessible but cars still need to get through quickly

This seems like a reasonable plan due to proximity to the university, but there are very few ways to travel between Eugene and Springfield. Eliminating the only one near downtown that is not the actual highway seems like a bad idea. The speed limit is only 30 near the university area anyway, so it doesn’t seem that it should need to be slowed more than that. Providing more pedestrian bridges or trails would still allow traffic to move and provide more safety.

From being a gravel road to a major thorough fare it has seen some changes over the years, none recently. Some of the pavement going east, left lane needs attention. Sharing with bikes and mopeds is probably needed. The EMX seems to be working well on Franklin. Safety is good I believe. I have not seen many cars speeding on this road, there are some, generally feel safe.

The pavement on the East end of Franklin Blv. has very uneven surfaces. The crossing distance is *very* long making it hard to cross the street in a timely and safe manner. There are currently few trees on the East end of the street making it very hot to walk alongside the street. Due to the width of the street many people speed while driving.

Congested and fast. Need to slow things down and allow for more pedestrian traffic

What a mess! Given how close it is to the University and the amount of student housing that is on the north side of Franklin, as well as the lack of parking at the University and the Matt Knight forcing people to park across Franklin and then play “Frogger” to walk where they are going, it is surprising there aren’t more car-on-human deaths along it. Getting across on a bike to the River Path is also challenging and dangerous. Finally, if you are driving westbound, you will be doing at least 50 mph before going onto Franklin by Walnut, and there is no engineering to change people’s mindsets to the new speed environment – so they try to go 45 or more through to Agate. It would be great if there were a separated bike lane that went at least from 11th to Augusta. It shouldn’t be like the current 13th St bikeway – it needs to actually be a useful and pleasant way for bicyclists and scooterpeople to get through this area (no stopping at every intersection!), and it needs to allow easy and safe ways to for people to get across Franklin Street so they can access either the River Path or the University.

Drivers don’t respect the flashing red light crosswalk near Patterson. The intersection of Franklin & Agate is suuuper dangerous. I work at UO and cross this many times a week and there are always near-accidents with pedestrians. Specifically drivers who are on Riverfront Pkwy southbound, turning right onto Franklin. The pedestrians need more protected crossing. Now that UO is utilizing the Millrace garage as main parking lot for staff and visitors, it is very busy from 8-9 and 4-5. Lastly, the speed limit should be slower. Many times when walking eastbound near Wild Goat Restaurant area, cars fly down Franklin and I have been splashed with a huge waterfall from the car driving by.

More trees, slower traffic, a small trolly bus (not a tram) for visitors and students. It would be a magnet to get people away from their cars. Give it a cute name, like “Rolli” or “Dolly”.

I live on Sylvan and walk/ride along Franklin almost daily. The speed of vehicles as they leave eug to enter southbound i5/enter Springfield is alarming. The lack of bike lanes in both directions on Franklin is challenging for our commute. The lack of lighting near the eastern end approaching Sylvan is difficult at night. We often walk the much longer route up through Hendricks park to avoid the speeding vehicles and loud noise along Franklin between Sylvan and walnut.

This is the first impression that the UO and the city gives to anyone first coming into town and it is not a good one. In fact, it is very unattractive. The lack of trees, the overly wide roads with multiple lanes of traffic encourages fast driving…the city can do better. I worry about students the safety of students who have to cross this street regularly.

I ride my bike to work almost daily in the spring, summer, and fall. I almost always move my bike up onto the sidewalk when I am crossing Franklin Boulevard, because I am concerned about being hit by the cars that are coming from behind me or turning right. I also use a great deal of caution when I am returning from work, crossing Franklin Boulevard again. I am always concerned that a driver will not see me and could hit me. As a pedestrian, I also frequently cross Franklin Boulevard. I also worry about my safety as I cross because of the fast-moving cars. I have not been hit here, but I am very cautious because I have been hit by a car and hospitalized in the past. In the winter, I now drive to work, because now that I am older, I do not wish to ride back-and-forth on my bicycle when it is dark. I have been so impressed by the change in Glenwood Franklin Boulevard. I was delighted to learn that there might be a similar traffic circle in Eugene on the Franklin Boulevard near my house. I think this would be more beautiful and would be safer, both when I ride my bicycle, and when I walk. I am disappointed by my neighbors’s strong opposition to this plan. Unfortunately, I have been unable to attend the meetings. I did respond in an email to my neighbors about my support of the plan. I also watched the strong opposition to the changes on Willamette Street in the last couple of years, and how this opposition melted after the changes were made. The changes make Willamette Street so much better. I am thinking that this might happen with the Fairmount neighborhood opposition.